


Pale

by Jathis



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slice of Life, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:13:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4097062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jathis/pseuds/Jathis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arcade finds it hard to trust people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pale

“I’ve never told anyone before…I’ve always been too afraid to do it.” The Courier tilted his head to one side slightly, looking at his friend and lover Arcade worriedly, watching as the blonde looked down at the ground.  
  
“It must have been hard…keeping that kind of secret for so long.” He said. He winced when a miserable look suddenly passed over Arcade’s face and he reached out and stroked the doctor’s back, trying to comfort him as best as he could. “Arcade..?”  
  
“My whole life revolved around keeping it a secret from everyone else. Most of the time it was as easy as breathing and I didn’t even think about it as I lived my life.” He whispered softly, shaking his head. “Some days however… it was harder than others.” The Courier looked at the blonde and he held him close, wrapping an arm around his middle.  
  
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. Tilting his head back, Arcade let his eyes flutter closed and for a long time he said nothing, merely standing there with his lover the Courier holding him close as the sun started to set.  
  
“His name was Pale and he was born Enclave just like me.” He finally said, opening his eyes to look over at the Courier. “He was my first long term relationship and until you came he was my last.”  
  
“What happened to him?” the Courier asked softly.  
  
“The NCR came to the Followers’ camp one day and said they were doing a routine check for any Enclave that may have been ‘lurking’ around.” He said, a touch of bitterness in his voice as he glared down at the ground. “We were in our tent together…we hadn’t heard them come in and they just…just barged into our tent and they grabbed him and pulled him off of me.  
  
“They were shouting and cursing at him, spitting on him and calling him Enclave scum…I didn’t understand it. How could they have known he was Enclave? Did they know I was Enclave too?  
  
“They grabbed me too, accusing me of sleeping with Enclave knowingly. They didn’t know I was Enclave myself; they just thought I was sleeping with one. Pale he…he told them that I didn’t know, that he had never told me what he was. It wasn’t until after some of the other Followers stepped in to defend me that the NCR let me go.  
  
“They took him out of the camp. He promised me that everything would be all right…that he had done nothing wrong. He promised to come back…  
  
“I never saw him after that. Later I found out that he had confided in someone else of what he was; an old woman who ran a small shop the Followers went to for supplies sometimes. The old woman sold him out to the NCR for five hundred caps.” He ended, his vision badly blurred from the tears building up in his eyes. “His life was worth more than that.”  
  
“Arcade…”  
  
“I’ve never told anyone that before.” He confessed, running a hand over his eyes quickly, wiping away his tears. “After that I always dreaded the day when the NCR would come back and take me away too, just because my father was a soldier.”  
  
The Courier looked at the doctor sadly and gently he turned him around so that he was looking at him, smiling ever so faintly. “Arcade, I won’t let anything happen to you.” He promised. “Everything will be all right.” The blonde offered him a weak smile.  
  
“Pale said that too, as they took him away to his death.”


End file.
